Camping

Tonight it was decided that I would go to stake girls camp next week (Monday-Saturday). Somehow, my home ward manages to be filled with lots of very strong women. Now, this could be attributed to the fact that I spent the majority of my St Louis life in one ward (until it dissolved), then the rest of it in a ward that received an infusion of my old ward, but... that doesn't quite explain things.

In the old days, my ward would send about 5-7 girls to camp along with the requisite ward camp leaders (1 or 2 of them). Then, we would send 5-9 women for leadership on the stake level.

This year, my home ward is sending 3 girls and 5 leaders (including the camp director). Only one of those women was in my old home ward. Woof.

Tonight, a family friend (who happens to be going to camp as a leader) swung by to chat. During the course of the evening, I discovered that she's been really sick all year (she's at about 110 lbs; she's lost 35 lbs in a year), has a daughter's wedding in 3 weeks, and she was asked to help out with camp. What's more, many women have fallen pregnant and, as such, are unable to come. Thus, knowing that our friend was wise, talented, and unable to say no, the director started assigning her extra duties. At this point, she's in charge of keeping the youth leaders in line (and they're camping at a boy scout camp; oi vey), certification, flag, and presenting a spiritual thought every day. And she's been having difficulty not vomiting in the evenings. And she's stressing over her daughter's wedding.

Well, being the brilliant child that I am, I mentioned that I was unemployed and offered to help. She told me that if I was serious, she would gladly welcome my assistance (though there would be some paperwork for a doctor to fill out and such).

Not long after she left our house, I got a phone call from one of the YW leaders in the ward (on of the ones with a bun in the oven and who is involved in the same cairn rescue group as my family) telling me that I was her new favorite person. She also assured me that, seeing as her husband is a doctor, I could easily get my form filled out free of charge.

So... yeah. I'm going camping. Yay?